Heading to Chile

As we moved north from Ushuaia, temporarily leaving the Andes behind, the landscape began to flatten and dry out. Our bus followed the winding Atlantic coastline before turning inland once again and heading towards the Chilean border. The flat windswept patagonian plains were scattered with clusters of guanacos, occasionally interrupted by the odd field of sheep. After a few hours of this, we reached a small border post. The small red roof brought scale to the plains for the first time, and the vast openness of the plains felt almost intimidating. We crossed out of Argentina and continued on to the Chilean border post a few kilometers further up the road, where we were all taken out of the bus and instructed to stand in line. They placed the whole bus shoulder to shoulder, with out bags positioned in front of our feet. A military police officer brought a very cute dog around who picked a few bags, including mine, out of the line. The boarder agents searched our bags and questioned us about any fruit we might be trying to smuggle. Once they were satisfied that thier search had been fruitless, we were allowed into Chile!

We stayed the night at a very cozy hostel in the town of Punta Arenas. There was not much to do in the town, so in the evening everyone from our six person dormitory was in the hostel cooking dinner. After we ate, we played some cards and drank wine. The next morning we caught the bus further north to Puerto Natales where we stayed at a small campground that had a place for our tent and access to a small kitchen. We headed to Los Glaciares National Park and did the day hike to the base of the famous Torres Del Paine. The hike was steep, but the view was well worth the effort!Read more